* VETERAN*
World War Two
Killed in Action
My uncle who I was named after; Robert Widdie Adkins was named after James Robert Adkins. Widdie Married Winifred and was the son of Dewey Woodrow [Earl] Adkins and Peachie Mae Miller. Robert was with CCC before he was enlisted into the Army.

* He was killed in Normandy France and was Burried at The la Cambe Cemetery Site of Omaha Beach grave 10, row 1, plot Q, marker, white stake. Roberts body was brought to the house and placed in the front living room.
It was now almost 4 years to the day since Robert had died. His body was sent home in a simple pine box and was draped with an American flag and soldiers were placed on guard so that family members could have a viewing of the casket. After two days Hick funeral home removed it and it was sent to the Adkins private Cemetery at Hewitt's fork in Oak hill Ohio.

* Immediately after a combat area was secured, the grime task of recovering and burying the dead began. At Omaha Beach a cemetery was set up on the beach flat below the bluffs in the area between the St. Laurent and Vierville Draws. This site later became known as the 'First' American
Cemetery.
American dead were collected for burial at this site below the bluffs at the beach, which became the 'First' American Cemetery. This Cemetery would remain quietly at this site though the winter, as the war moved on and the activity of the summer of 1944 at Omaha Beach gave way to an empty ghostly abandoned beach of 1945. Eventually this Cemetery site on the beach would be moved to the site further east above the bluffs where we now know it as the American Cemetery at Colleville. The la Cambe Cemetery Site.
Robert Widdie Adkins was Burried at this cemetery untill the Military had him sent home in July 1948.
His location was; la Cambe Cemetery in France
Protestant;
Grave marker; 10
Row Number; 1
Plot Number; Q
Type of Marker Stake


* His Military Awards were;
*Purple Heart with 1 Bronze oak leaf cluster
*Good Conduct Medal
*European African Campaign Service Medal with Four Battle stars
*American Campaign Service Medal
*World War II Service Medal
*Combat Action Ribbon Presidential Unit Citation
*30 caliber Riflemans Badge
*Honrable Discharge Certificate
*Honorable Lapel Button.
*Killed in Action Lapel Pin.

After being drafted he was to report to the Local Board Order No 283# 127 Valley St. Montgomery County Ohio at 4:00 PM on the 15th day of June 1942 He was then sent to his Reception Center at Ft Hayes Ohio June 22 1942 from there to Ft Leonard wood Missouri were his training would begin for Co Engineers RTC, On Sept 8 1942 he was sent to Hq Co,3rd Bn 47 Inf C.T He left there and went to Ft Bragg North Carolina Sept 10 1942 for assignment to APO New York with Co B 15th Engr. Bn . 7th Corps 1st Army, 9th Div. Robert upon entering the service listed his middle name as Widdie. He listed his father Dewey and His Brother Albert as his beneficiary. He said he was separated from wife Winifred and there was no known address for her.
* He drove Hvy trucks and had a Chauffeur licence before entering the service
Height ; 64''
Weight; 146
Posture; Good
Frame; Medium
Hair; Brown
Eyes; Blue
Coplextion; Ruddy
Blood Type; A
Title: U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 Record
Author: National Archives and Records Administration
World War II Army Enlistment Records; Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 64;
Text: Name: Robert W Adkins
Birth Year: 1922
Race: White, citizen
Nativity State or Country: West Virginia
State: West Virginia
Army Service Number 35406737
Enlistment Date: June 17 1942
Enlistment State: Virginia
Enlistment City: Huntington West
Branch: United States Army
Branch Code: Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Grade: Private
Grade Code: Private
Term of Enlistment: Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Component: Selectees (Enlisted Men)
Source: Civil Life
Education: Grammar school
Civil Occupation: Tracktor Driver* or Truck Driver, Heavy or Chauffeur or Truck Driver, Light An asterisk (*) appearing after a job title indicates that a trade test for the particular occupation will be found in the United States Employment Service Manual, Oral Trade Test
Marital Status: Seperated with dependents.

*After two previous battles in Africa one being the Battle of Augeria-French Morocco Algeria called Operation Torch (initially called Operation Gymnast) and the other the Battle of Tunisia. He was now faced with yet a third. Robert W Adkins was wounded Aug 11 1943 near Randozzo at 10;00 PM in the invasion of Sicily. He was taken to the Clr Sta 9th Med Bn. 11th Evac Hospital. The next day he was Transferred to th 15th Evac His admision was at 2;00 PM. Where he was treated for Ad-- Wounded in Action - SFW, left thigh, lower 1/3 listed as sever. On Aug 15th 1943 he was treated again 8;00 Pm for a small laceration to the right mid thigh and for Boils to the right arm. June 6th he was part of the Normandy invasion and still serving with the Co B 15th Engr. Bn. July 14th 1944 he was wounded in the back by a land mine and was listed as server. Robert Wayne [Widdie] Adkins died on the 15th day of July 1944
* OBITUARY *
PARTICIPATING in his fourth Invasion. Robert Adkins, above, son of Mr. and Mrs. Dewey Adkins of 2950 Eighth avenue, was killed in action in FRANCE; He was wounded July 14th and died July 15th; Private Adkins enterd the service in June, 1942; He was wounded in Sicily in August 1943 and was awarded the Purple Heart; He had been serving overseas for 21 mounths with the army engineers; In addition to his parents, He is survived by four brothers, Albert Adkins in the U.S. Navy somewhere in the South Pacific, Millard Adkins of Oak Hill, O., and two sisters, Eva Mae and Lena Gay Adkins; and one foster sister, Elizabeth Romaine Adkins, all at home.
Huntington Herald Advertiser 1944 8/13; and the Huntington Herald Dispatch -Reburial notice 1948 6/27;